In 1998, Vatican City was the smallest independent nation in the world. It served as the home of the Roman Catholic Church, with its population consisting of only 800 citizens. The Vatican City was led by Pope John Paul II who held absolute authority over all matters of state. The economy of Vatican City relied heavily on donations from Catholic faithful around the world and had little economic activity within its borders. Despite its small size, it still had a large impact on international affairs due to its religious influence and diplomatic ties. In 1998, the Vatican City had established diplomatic relations with many countries around the world and had been involved in various peace negotiations throughout Europe. Additionally, it was also one of the founding members of UNESCO and worked to promote human rights and religious freedom worldwide. Despite this, there were still several issues that needed to be addressed within Vatican City such as poverty levels and human rights violations. To address these issues, Pope John Paul II had taken steps to improve living standards for many citizens by introducing several economic reforms including privatization and liberalization of the economy. These reforms had helped attract more foreign investment into the country’s economy while also improving infrastructure throughout Vatican City. Additionally, it had established diplomatic relations with other countries in order to gain access to foreign markets and promote economic growth within its borders as well as around the world. See dentistrymyth for Vatican City in the year of 2015.

Yearbook 1998

Vatican City. According to Countryaah, the capital of Holy See is Vatican City. Pope John Paul II visited Croatia during the year, where he blessed one of the most controversial historical figures of Croatian history, Archbishop Alojzije Stepanić (see Croatia).

In the spring, the commander of the Swiss Guard General Alois Esterman was murdered along with his wife. The perpetrator was a young deputy corporal who committed suicide shortly after the deed.

During the year, the Vatican State appointed a commission to investigate the atrocities committed during the Inquisition. Shortly thereafter, the professor of philosophy of law at the Vatican University, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Luigi Lombardi Vallauri was dismissed in an internal trial where he was not entitled to defend himself. The reason was stated to be that he devoted himself to error lessons. Vallauri had expressed his views on hell, sin and sexual morality. He found no resemblance between the sins a human can commit and an eternal burning hell.

Leonardo Zega, editor of the Italian newspaper Famiglia Christiana, was forced after leaving the Vatican to leave his post because he had not condemned homosexuality.

In October 2002, the pope makes deceased mother Teresa from Calcutta for the weekend. She may have been the most prominent religious figure of the 20th century, but the sanctification was at the same time debated because of her opposition to the use of contraception. Almost at the same time, Pope Opus Dei’s founder, José Escrivá de Balaguer made the weekend. Opus Dei is a highly conservative order within the Catholic Church, and it gained tremendous influence in the 20th century. This weekend performance had strong political overtones.

Despite strong pressure from the Vatican in 2003, the EU Constitutional Consent refused to include a passage in the EU’s new constitution on “EU Christian roots”.

In July, the Vatican launched a worldwide campaign against gay marriage, which it characterized as immoral, not natural and devastating. This was done in an attempt to reverse the progress made in this area in Europe and America.

In October 2003, the greatly weakened 83-year-old pope celebrated his 25th anniversary in the papacy. The number of Catholics continues to rise, despite the Vatican’s reactionary development under Pope Paul II. The Vatican’s opposition to the use of contraception continues to contribute to the spread of AIDS and other STDs.

• Abbreviationfinder: What does VAT stand for in geography? Here, this 3 letter acronym refers to the country of Vatican.

Pope John Paul II died April 2, 2005. He suffered from advanced Parkinson’s, and his illness was of grave concern to Catholics and especially the Vatican City. On February 24, he had been admitted to the Gemilla Hospital in Rome for the flu. His condition was improving as he suffered a heart and circulatory collapse. Hundreds of thousands gathered in St. Peter’s the following day and several Catholic countries declared mourning.

Most observers outside the Vatican agreed to rate John Paul’s post as highly conservative. He crushed most of the liberation theological currents of the Catholic Church in the Third World, thus reducing the church’s social and political commitment. His strong opposition to contraception also contributed to the spread of AIDS in especially Catholic countries in Africa.

Pontifical Diplomacy. – The diplomatic activity of the Holy See, whose action in the international field has been recognized for centuries, finds its raison d’être in the particular apostolic mission that the Pontiff exercises within the Catholic Church and in the world.

It is reaffirmed by Paul vi’s Motu proprio Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum (June 24, 1969): “By a native right inherent in our own spiritual mission, favored by a centuries-old development of historical events, We send our Legates to the supreme authorities of the States” . Indeed, “the good of the individual and of the community of peoples postulates an open dialogue and a sincere understanding between the Church on the one hand and the States on the other”. The papal speech did nothing to meet the desired of Vatican Council II, which called as may be determined more precisely the functions of the papal representatives. Paul vi, therefore, he recalled first of all that “the primary and specific purpose of the mission of the pontifical representative is to make the bonds that bind the Apostolic See and the local Churches ever closer and more effective”, that is to say that it is a mission of an ecclesial nature. This peculiar characteristic is well in line with the historical development of papal representation, which has as its starting point the sending of legates of the pope to the councils and various regional synods since the first centuries of the life of the Church. To these will be added the apostolic vicars, endowed with broader and more stable faculties in the territories entrusted to them both in the East and in the West; the apocrisaries, who had a typically ecclesial mission in the organization of the ecclesiastical structure, especially between the middle of the 6th century and the middle of the 7th; legates born and collectors for the collection of taxes and the surveillance of assets (between the 13th and 14th centuries); the missi legates with transitory assignments. The great political movements of the 15th century in Europe saw the sending of representatives between the main states; the popes, at the beginning, did not show themselves in favor of this practice and only at the end of the century Sixtusiv and Alessandro they promoted the sending of Permanent Representatives. But the merit of the creation of a real network, quite extensive, of Apostolic Nunciatures goes to Gregory xiii, who entrusted them with the mission of encouraging and controlling the application of the decrees of the Council of Trent, a mission, therefore, not only diplomatic but essentially pastoral.

It was the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, with its Règlement sur le rang entre les Agents diplomatiques, which recognized and definitively sanctioned the centuries-old presence of the representative of the Supreme Pontiff among the employés diplomatiques, placing the Nuncios among the first class representatives and pointing out that the norms relating to the right of precedence did not bring any news as far as the papal representatives are concerned. With the pontificate of Gregory xvi and the strong missionary impulse he gave to the activity of the Church, with the consequent implantatio ecclesiae outside the old European continent, a new representative figure arose, that of the Apostolic Delegate, sent, without a diplomatic character, to the Churches of the Near and Middle East. With Leo xiii, this institution extends to the East Indies and North America. The Vatican Council i with the Constitution Pastor Aeternus formally recognized that the Roman Pontiff, by virtue of his primatial office as successor of St. Peter, is the head of the Episcopal College and exercises over the whole Church full and supreme power of jurisdiction, ordinary and immediate, a power to which all Pastors and the other faithful, whatever their rite and their hierarchical rank, both personally and as a whole, must pay hierarchical subordination and obedience, not only as regards faith and morals, but also as regards the discipline and governance of the Church. This definition offered the definitive theological and juridical basis for a more intense exercise of the action of the Supreme Pontiff towards the universal Church. At the same time, the end of temporal power favored the full and exclusive dedication of the Popes to exercise of their pastoral mission, thus qualifying the mission of their representatives in a profoundly ecclesial way. It should be noted, however, that between 1870 and 1929, the Pope – even without any temporal power – continued to exercise an important mission in the international field (conclusion of more than 50 concordats and agreements; mediation in various international disputes) .

In addition to this mission ad intra or inter-ecclesial, ” specific and principal ”, according to the Motu proprio of Paul I, the papal representatives held a diplomatic function in the authorities of the states in which they are accredited, with the aim of promoting and to foster relations with governments, to deal with issues concerning relations between Church and state, and to deal in particular with the stipulation of modus vivendi, agreements and concordats, as well as conventions that relate to matters in the sphere of public law. A wide field of Vatican diplomacy is still everything that concerns the promotion of peace, progress and collaboration between peoples in view of the spiritual, moral and material good of the entire human family. The Holy See also carries out its particular action in the field of multilateral diplomacy. In fact, it is present through delegates or permanent observers at the main international organizations, favoring the respect or promotion of human rights in the various sectors of social life.

With the 1993 reform, the papal representatives are practically of two types: the apostolic nuncio (papal representative to the local Churches and to the government to which he is accredited, with the rank of ambassador) and the apostolic delegate (sent only to ecclesial communities, without diplomatic character). Since 1993 the figure, established in October 1965, of the Apostolic Pro-nuncio, which indicated a pontifical representative, with the rank of ambassador, but who was not recognized the right of precedence (decananza) within the Diplomatic corps.

The pontifical representatives are normally formed in the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, and in the exercise of their particular mission they depend on the Cardinal Secretary of State and his two main collaborators: the Substitute of the section for general affairs and the Secretary of the section for relations. of the Holy See with the states. They are ordinarily ecclesiastics, awarded the dignity of the archbishop. But the representation of the Holy See can also be entrusted to simple priests, religious and laity, who are part of a pontifical mission to international organizations or who participate in conferences and congresses. The diplomatic staff of a representation of the Holy See contemplates the following levels: attaché, first and second class secretary, first and second class councilor.